Hi Bianca

If you see this I would love to pm you if that is OK to ask if you have any info on hotels etc.

Please pm me your itinerary and I'll have a look at it in detail. We often drive Dover-Alsace and Alsace-Milan, so I can tell you if the Alsace-Milan bit works and look at the first part with you.

We have 2 adults and 2 teenage boys and we would basically like to travel the 9-10 hours on Easter Sunday

Ouch! It takes us about 5 hours from Alsace to Milan with no breaks and no road holdups, so I think you are being rather optimistic, especially as the St Gotthard Pass isn't open as it's too early in the year, and the tunnel will be busy. We had a HORRENDOUS wait and journey home one year in the direction of Milan to Alsace there!!!! All of Europe is on the move during the Easter weekend and service stations are packed. You may need to build in more time than ideal and to prebook overnight hotel accommodation.

- then spend 4 to 8 April in a nice hotel in Milan (not necessarily in the centre) - we would like to visit Venice, Venona - see the lakes.

Ideally, if you have a hotel convenient for train travel I would consider driving to Verona, enjoying the town and then taking a train to Venice - approx 2 hours on a frequent and fast route - so you don't have to put the car into the Piazzale Roma multi storey garage and pay handsomely for the privilege!

Give me more details about 'the lakes' ............ Como is doable en route to or from Milan, Lugano ditto, and a small side trip to Maggiore from Locarno. But these will take time and I fear that you honestly won't get to see them on such a short trip. Lake Iseo is probably too far off the beaten track, and you say that you have already been to Lake Garda.

We plan to break up the journey back - maybe travelling 6 hours on Fri and staying in a little hotel half way and finishing the journey on Saturday - as we sail back to Ireland at 9.30pm. Is this rough itinerary practical? I know we have a lot of driving but hubby doesnt mind (he says)!!!

I'll have to look at this closely but it does seem very tight at the moment. PM me with more details of your dates and times and I'll get onto it. Have you already booked your crossings/ If not, it might be better to fly to Milan and hire a car there and do a trip including the lakes and Verona and Venice which could be done in a very busy week. If you are driving, I'm not sure that you'll get all these things done, and bearing in mind that it is the Easter Weekend, you really need to be finalising your details very soon now ...................

I look forward to hearing from you.

Alsacienne, I cannot pm you. The system wont allow me - am I doing something wrong? Could you even pm me a 'test' pm and maybe I can reply to that. Many thanks B

You have not been a member long enough yet to be able to send pms.

However, you can send via admin in the interim if you wish.

Kath x

Bianca, send me a pm via the admin team. I'll be happy to work on the details you send me.

Alsacienne

If you send Bianca a PM, she will be able to reply.

luci

Thanks Luci and Kath! Long pm's have been sent to biancat this afternoon.